Executive Council reviews budgets, considers draft of letter to the Episcopal Church

From EpiscopalLife Online [boldface mine]:

Members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council February 13 learned that diocesan financial contributions to the wider church's budget exceeded what was expected in 2007 and will likely also increase in 2008.

Josephine Hicks of the Diocese of North Carolina, chair of Council's Administration and Finance Committee (A&F), and Episcopal Church Treasurer Kurt Barnes reviewed the performance of the 2007 budget and presented A&F's proposed 2008 budget. Council will vote on the budget February 14 during the concluding day of this four-day meeting in Quito.

Also during the afternoon plenary session at the Hilton Colon hotel, a task group charged with writing a letter to the Episcopal Church, to be released at the end of the meeting, presented a first draft and asked for feedback. Council members read the draft as it was projected on a large screen in the plenary meeting room. Task group chair Sherry Denton of the Diocese of Western Kansas asked the members to individually relay their feedback to the task group.

The draft would have Council express its admiration for the mission and ministry of the people and clergy of the hosting Diocese of Ecuador Central and explain Council's efforts to help the Church work within its 2007-2009 triennial budget. The letter also contains language assuring people who want to remain member of the Episcopal Church but who find themselves in parishes or dioceses attempting to depart that the Church has not forgotten them and stands ready to help them. . .

In other action February 13, Council:

• heard a summary of the Anglican Church of Canada's 2006 General Synod from New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham, who is the Canadian church’s partner on the Council. Ingham also told Council he sees the Episcopal Church as "deeply committed" to "basic Gospel values" and to mission. He noted the disagreements about the full inclusion of gays and lesbians facing both churches, adding "we need not tear ourselves apart" on issues that both churches have said are not issues of core doctrine. "We walk together on this journey," Ingham said.


• heard a summary of plans for the 2008 Lambeth Conference from Council member Ian Douglas, who is part of the conference's design team. He described a plan designed to equip bishops for mission and which begins with groups of eight bishops from different provinces meeting in what are being called "indaba groups" to begin the practice of encountering God's Word and encountering each other through sharing their stories and God's story. Indaba is a Zulu/Xhosa word meaning gathering for conversation. Indaba groups will be combined for discussions of issues. Douglas told the Executive Council that some of those issues could well include Anglican identity, evangelism, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), environmental concerns, multi-faith dialogue, gender equality and violence, human sexuality, the Windsor Report, and biblical authority. "We're trying to create a space for conversation," but not avoid the hard issues, Douglas said. . .

Read it all.